Hopelchen, Campeche to Merida, Yucatan

We were sorry to leave Campeche State. People had been unfailingly friendly and helpful and we’d had a good time everywhere we’d been. The riding wasn’t always the most exciting, but there was enough variety to make it interesting and fun.

Highway 261 north out of Hopelchen. Ontario-esque in its straightness, and beautifully quiet.

We left Hopelchen on a surprisingly cool Saturday morning and the temperature stayed comfortable all day, even when the sun came out. A much less sweaty affair than we’d been used to.

The road was largely deserted and we enjoyed a peaceful ride through gently rolling hills. No Pemex on highway 261, to our amazement, so we had to relieve ourselves on the roadside like oiks. But we did stop for the usual mid-morning drink at a comedor.

I had my regular black coffee, while Katy glugged this extraordinarily sugary strawberry pop. It’s a treat to find anything not made by Coke and we’ll generally drink it, whatever it is.

By lunchtime we’d arrived at Kabah, a Mayan archaeological site just across the state line in Yucatan. It was quite different from other Meso-American sites we’d visited, with structures that were much more recognisably buildings as we know them, rather than pyramids. I found it easier to visualise what it might have been like when 10,000 people lived on the site in 800 AD, but that probably just illustrates my lack of imagination!

Kabah. This building is called Codz Poop. We found that funnier than we ought to.

Like all the archeological sites we’d visited in México, Kabah was wonderfully peaceful. A few other people wandering around, but so far away as to be barely noticeable. These sites are very relaxing places. Or at least had been up to this point.

We asked the men at the ticket office if they’d keep an eye on the bike, and they took that very literally.

It was just a short ride from Kabah to the town of Santa Elena. (Saturday’s whole ride is here.) Hotel prices were double what they’d been in less touristy Campeche, but we asked around and found a place that had cabins for 300 pesos (£12). It seemed a bit barmy that we were paying the same as we had for a really good hotel room the previous night, but that’s market forces for you.

Outside the cabin at Hotel Chac Mool.

And inside. Bug net a must!

Santa Elena was a nice town. Yucatan people seemed just as friendly as their compatriots in Campeche and we had a good chat with a taxi driver in the town square while he waited for his next fare. He’d learned a bit of English at school many years ago, but we mostly spoke in Spanish and I even asked him a couple of questions. Katy pointed out that this was a new conversational development. (I don’t mean questions like ‘Have you got a room for two people?’ I mean questions about local life.) That was really satisfying. A genuine two-way exchange.

Santa Elena’s imposing church.

And the town museum, where Katy was especially pleased to learn about local weaving techniques using a plant called henequen, a type of agave.

So Yucatan State got off to a good start. Nice ride, nice people, nice places.

Sunday – thanks to our need to kill a bit of time before Christmas and the presence of another big archeological site en route – was a very short ride. Just 31 km from Santa Elena to Muna, via the Mayan ruins at Uxmal.

El Chac Mool, the hotel whose cabin we stayed in. Had to go over to the big house to give the key back.

What riding we did was good, on an empty 261 through the Yucatan jungle. Rolling gently up and down under cloudy skies again, so it felt very much like Saturday.

Thought we’d better have a photo of the ubiquitous orange Mexican cargo bike. These are everywhere, in every town. This one seemingly abandoned on the side of the road on Sunday morning.

Uxmal is one of the best-known Mayan archaeological sites in Yucatan. It’s also pretty expensive by Mexican standards (about £10 each to go in), but free to locals on Sundays. So we were surprised to find it not completely rammed, because it’s pretty impressive.

The great pyramid at Uxmal. Just an appetiser for the rest of the site.

We spent an enjoyable few hours looking around some well-preserved buildings after a bit of faff figuring out what to do with the bike, which took three attempts at talking to different staff members. I find that a certain amount of perseverance is required with these things. When I don’t get anywhere, I need to psych myself up again for a different approach, and maybe try to commit some new vocabulary to memory. We got there in the end though.

Looking out across Uxmal.

One interesting thing we learned is that the city was probably abandoned around 1,000 BC because its sophisticated water storage system could no longer cope with its population. There are no rivers in Yucatan because of very porous bedrock, so the Mayans devised systems for collecting and storing rainwater in the wet season for use during the rest of the year. But eventually demand outstripped supply and that was the end of Uxmal as a living city. I’d often wondered why these places fell out of use.

Intricate stonework at Uxmal.

After hopping back on the bike for 45 minutes (and riding over Yucatan’s highest hill – not high), we arrived in Muna and found a suitably cheap hotel. The really budget ones tend not to be on Google maps, so it’s often a nice surprise to find that we can pay less than anticipated (£10 for the two of us in this instance).

The view from our doorstep at the hotel that didn’t even seem to have a name.

Despite a population of 11,000, Muna was very sleepy on a Sunday afternoon. Which was unusual in our experience of Mexican towns. Further west and north it had been hard to tell what day of the week it was because everything seemed to be open all the time.

The Christmas tree in Muna’s main square. Christmas trees are very conical here.

So we had a somewhat rudimentary dinner because we couldn’t buy any fresh produce, but it was nice to see that most people seemed to be getting a day off. We wondered if that’s a luxury that’s more affordable in a state that probably benefits more than most from tourist income.

We were back on 261 for a bit on Wednesday morning, but planned to take a wiggly route to Merida so that we could stop off at a cenote: a big pit containing exposed groundwater. Yucatan is well-known for them and we were keen to check one out, even if it was a bit cool for a swim.

So after about 20 km on the highway we turned onto a dirt track, which would supposedly take us to what we were looking for.

A nice bit of dusty double-track.

We rode for a couple of km and it was good fun being on an unpaved surface for the first time in quite a while. But then… a locked gate. Maybe we could have squeezed around somehow, or waited for someone to come along. But without knowing whose land we were on or when we might see anyone, we figured it was best to turn around.

None shall pass.

Back at the start of the track we found a hacienda (basically a fancy old country house) which was once the centre of a textile operation. It seemed to be some sort of museum or visitor centre now, but it was all closed up. Katy was sorry not to be able to get into the handicraft museum.

Denied again.

But the ride was still a lot of fun. Google went a bit rogue with the route and sent us down all sorts of off-road sections. Perhaps it felt it had to give us some more adventure after taking us to that locked gate earlier.

Beautiful chalky tracks, like Italy’s strade bianche.

And this time a gate we could open.

We rode into Merida through its southern suburbs and were a bit alarmed to find ourselves in a bustling city centre. It’s always a surprise after being on rural roads and in small towns for a few days, even though you know it’s coming.

We made our way to our stop for the night, with Warm Showers hosts Ken and Erin. They’re US ex-pats who retired to Merida 10 years ago, and had a lovely house only about a km from the historic centre. After some pretty basic hotels, this was by far the nicest place we’d stayed in a long time.

Dinner in Ken and Erin’s lovely indoor/outdoor space.

We had a bit of a walk to get ourselves orientated, then Katy joined our hosts at a bilingual carol service in a local Episcopal church while I caught up on Spanish homework and journal writing. Maybe I should have gone to the carols too, to try and muster some Christmas spirit. But the whole thing still seemed completely ludicrous in warm weather, despite the fact that it was eight days away and the lights and decorations were everywhere.

Nativity scene in Merida’s Plaza Grande.

And the rather lovely lights at dusk. Don’t know if these are Christmas-specific or not, but they looked good.

Merida seemed – on first impression – as nice as we’d heard though. So we were looking forward to spending a couple of days exploring Yucatan’s biggest city.